Monthly Archives: March 2012

Well, I am quite happy to say that the new router has been installed (YAY!) and now the list is smaller. We need a new VOIP phone, and to find the Mac OS disks for my upgrade, and my geek-squad in the states need to sort our why the mail server is being so flakey. In the meantime I thought I would share a set of ATC-sized spots that I made for myself. I love red and cream so I made them to suit me but perhaps someone else might find a use for them.

I’ve added them as both a PDF for printing and cutting, and as a .png in case any digital scrappers might grab them.

Some of them have meaning for me outside the words themselves. Insanely Great will be obvious to Mac fans. Forever and a Day is how my dad always signed his cards to my mom, I love you forever and a day. Life is Sweet is both a saying and a favourite movie title. Lucky Lucky Me is a line from one of DDs favourite Charlie and Lola episodes.

They look nice printed on cream cardstock. Most have a nice open area for layering or even little bits of journaling. They could be trimmed down and added to the corner of a photo then used in a Project Life sleeve, if the photo had a big enough open area or something unsightly you wanted to hide.

Have fun, while I am browbeating my poor DH into dragging his unwell self to the office to find those bl**dy disks…. well, I did make him soup for lunch after all. It’s the least he can do….

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I love this shape and have wanted to make some printables using it and since I am still fairly dead-in-the-water til the new router gets here I figured I might as well have a play. 12 monthly cards.

Now, if you look closely at the rounded ones – I thought I would have a go at rounding the outer corners but I actually prefer them square. You can see that neither of the rounders follow the lines of the coloured block perfectly:

The larger rounder does mimic the curve nicely if you round the INSIDE block that fits over the colour:

You could do the same with a journaling block (maybe grid paper) or just write a little bit in the top section.

I found the colours printed pretty vividly using the Glossy Paper setting on my printer, where a Matte setting was a bit duller. Hope you can use them. Hope I am back online fully by Monday!

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I’ve been offline for most of the whole day. Thankfully DH is hoping to be able to go to work tomorrow where, with luck, our new router will be delivered. YAY! It’s a Fritz box and I have high hopes that I can reclaim some of my windowsill, which now houses the router, the VOIP phone box, a camera on a tripod (part of the Security Spy set up) and at least two other boxes I am not entirely sure WHAT they do. Not to mention being able to dust without worrying I’ll knock a cable loose.

With time on my hands I played around with a few design ideas. This is one. Just a little filler card – I left one blank in the middle in case you want to add a name (either your family name or a child’s name) and if so the main font is establoFat. Grab the PDF here.

I haven’t yet sorted out the alternative to Argh! and DOH! that a commenter asked about. I will hope to get to that before Monday – and oh I am so looking forward to BIG CARDS that aren’t red for a change. Yippee Skippy.

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One thing about a dodgy connection and computer problems is you actually sometimes get a lot more done. My desk is full of nifty little fabric squares destined for a quilt.

The really interesting thing is that just by arranging the blocks in a certain way it produces some patterns that are totally appropriate for the recipient. I’ll say no more for now – mums the word LOL! It’s looks quite chaotic in the photo and the colours are a bit off the real ones so it’s better IRL. My mate finally made it round for lunch (the downside of a dodgy connection – you think someone got your email confirming lunch on Friday and it’s only dinnertime when you finally discover they didn’t just not show up, they never knew they were supposed to! DOH!) and gave me some welcome input on sashing colours so a quick trip to the fabric store is required. The method is explained here but as usual I went my own way with it. My previous attempt at a quilt was flawed – While I was determined to use the flannel as the backing it was simply too stretchy and I ended up with some slightly misshapen blocks that made neat intersections impossible. I’ll have another go a the Fun & Done method, although I think the actual tool would help as much as cotton fabric. Live and learn, live and learn…

I am homing in on the computer issues. The internet connectivity seems to be a faulty router – a new one has been ordered. DH is (or should I say WAS) feeling better so I had high hopes for my upgrade this weekend. He’s relapsed so now I am not sure. So while my commenting on WOYWW hasn’t been as good as I would like, I am managing to do a reasonable portion each week – it just takes me hours, with regular clearing of my font name cache and a re-boot every so often. But I wouldn’t miss my travels across Blogland and inspirational desks around the globe. You shouldn’t either so stop by Julia’s for the linky list.

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Yes, I’ve been busy with all sorts of things. But I wanted to quickly add this little printable set. I don’t know about you but my kids can drive me to distraction. The number of times I think ARGH! or DOH! in any given day could be as many as 10. So I thought a small filler card would suit. There is room for a small amount of journaling, but in reality, usually no more that the single word is required. I’ve done them vertical and horizontal, with slightly different dots. I also added a brown and a grey version, just in case you don’t fancy the colours. And I didn’t have time to print them out, but here’s a shot of them all – don’t be fooled by the size of the screen grabs! They are all PL appropriate sizes (the filler cards) and there are two each of the brown and the black.)

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Yay! I have completed a suit. The final Diamond is DONE. As I implied last week I did use the wax paper resist OVER paint and I love how it turned out.

I started by blobbing some different shades of red paint on paper. There is a very cherry red, a slightly orange-y red and a darker almost maroon colour.

With my brayer I skipped over the surface to distribute the paint a bit….

Before brayering in earnest! Once that had dried, I took my crumpled sheet of waxed paper and the piece to the iron. What I found was that if the iron was too hot, or if the waxed paper was placed OVER the paper, with the protective sheet (and for me that was a Teflon cooking sheet, £1 from the £ Store) the wax migrates towards the heat source, as you would expect, and doesn’t adhere as well as it does if you do it wax paper on the Teflon sheet (or craft mat, or scrap paper) paper, painted side DOWN on the waxed surface, then iron applied to the back of the paper. I think it gives it an almost leather-like look, especially with the Raisin colourwash over it. It’s very hard to capture the detail in a photo but this shows it OK.

I am not loading these cards with technique, mostly focusing on one or two per card, so IRL I would most probably combine this with an already painted surface, but one that had a lot more going on than just a coat of paint, to add texture and depth. And I might do more OVER it as well, although I do like the finish as is.

Last additions were the white paint spatters and a stamped flourish to complete my card!

I am annoyed that the card soaked up a bit of something over there on the right, but can’t moan too much as it was most probably my own fault for being careless and working amidst chaos.

So next I get to move on and really explore B&W. But I’m still dithering – spades or clubs, clubs or spades…..??

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I was playing around with an idea for a printable – sized at 4 x 6 so usable for Project Life, I thought something highlighting the states might be fun. I lived in Virginia so it was an obvious choice for the first one. Have a look and if it appeals you can do two things – first, you can comment saying which state you are interested in, and then, when doing so, you can add any state landmark or location or bit of info you would like to be included. No promises I can get them all in, but I know just from doing VA that choosing which of the big Universities to include really stymied me. Did I go for William and Mary, surely one of the most prestigious? VA Tech or James Madison, two of the most popular? And would anyone use a state printable if they were from Southern VA and all the “famous locations” were in NoVa? In the end it might end up being just an insurmountable task to pick things for each state that are of universal appeal (and how an East Cost girl living in the UK is going to pick the RIGHT popular place for say the mid-west, well I just don’t know!) but it’ll go one of two ways – either a ton of people will comment and from those I can cull a list, or only a FEW will comment in which case I would consider making a custom one.

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I’m really into the printables that are designed to work as both journaling blocks as well as photo frames. I think it provides the best of both worlds, so to speak. If you have a lot to say on the topic you can use the block for lots of text. If not, or it you just want a little added decoration, you can use the block with a photo added, as shown.

As usual the colours are my choice but you could easily lay a block of some other colour over them using PSE and make them any colour you like. The steps are as follows for PSE:

Open (the PDF) With PSE

Use the Magic Wand to select the colour box

Click the top one of the overlapping boxes icon (in the tools sidebar, at the bottom) to Select Foreground Colour

Use the color picker to select the colour

Click the Paint Bucket icon

Click on the selected area of the printable with the paint bucket

Click Select>Deselect in the top menu bar

then print your selection! Easy Peasy lemon squeezy!

The ones is this set (which I am calling Set 1 as I have a list of other ones to do at a later date) are:

TFS – thanks for sharing

FAQ – Frequently asked questions

AFK – Away from Keyboard (the photo is of the kids on holiday actually AWAY from their laptops/iPads for a change!)

NBD – No big deal

WYSIWYG – What you see is what you get

IYKWIM – If you know what I mean

I have a few more that I think may be appropriate.

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I stumbled across this paper city printout set and was enchanted. Not 100% sure how I will use it but I know I will – it’s too cool. I only wish there were a London! The paris one of just so full of whimsy. I wish I had some free available space to display it but the surfaces in my room are just too full of papercrafts!

I’m working on a set of printables but have a full day ahead and may not get them finished in time to post today. There’s quilting, tidying, shopping, a friend coming for lunch, admin stuff for UKS and probably a handful of things I’ve already forgotten!

But maybe you will have a fabulous idea for these printables while I get mine sorted!